Wherever
by Bittersweet Romanticide
Summary: Ash and Misty go for a midnight stroll, and end up spending their night in a hole. Ash's POV, first person, present tense, experimental pointless oneshot.


Well, my computer's going to get turned into the shop soon, I've had exams, and I lost several page of my longer story Hero. So, uh…I hope this distracts you for however long I'll be out. Hopefully not too long, and I'll keep working on stuff until I can post again!

* * *

_12:01_

"Where are you going?" Misty asks. Her voice is just above a whisper and she isn't moving in her sleeping bag.

I freeze, glancing back. "You…you're awake?"

"Uh-huh," she says, still not moving. She's still flat on her back, staring up at the canopy of the forest.

I listen for Brock and Dawn, but their breathing is slow. Misty is the only one up. So I drop my voice to an even lower whisper and ask, "Did I wake you?"

"Nah. I just can't sleep. I'm still buzzing from all the excitement."

"You'll get used to it," I promise, smiling.

"Mew, I hope not." Whether she meant 'I hope not' as in she hoped she would be back home before she got used to the feeling or she meant that she hoped things would always thrill her the way they did, I don't know. I like traveling with her. She ask, "Where are you going?"

"Don't know," I say. "Wherever."

"Wherever," she repeats, and I expect a comment about how 'wherever' isn't a place, but she surprises me with, "Wherever sounds great. Does wherever need pokémon?"

"Probably," I say, nodding slightly. I'm not waking Pikachu, though I'll take my backpack. Pikachu battled today, so he needs a rest.

"Great," she says, finally moving. She slings her bag onto her shoulder and rolls to her feet. "Which way is wherever?"

I giggle. "Whatever way."

"I'm going to wherever, whatever way I feel like, at twelve o'clock at night, with nothing but clothes and a backpack." Her voice is strange, too dreamy and happy to be Misty's.

I say, "It's great out here, isn't it?"

"It's better than great it's…it's…" She breathes deep. "It's whatever."

I set off, bag on my back, and Misty is right by my side. Our long, fast strides settle into the calm stride of a traveler with nowhere to go.

_1:05_

The ground falls out from under my feet, a hole. Not a Team Rocket hole, but something natural. Neither of us know what naturally caused holes, but we know why we hate them. We are showered in dirt and twigs and the dust scraped our eyes and throats as we roll down the steep slope of the hole. Once we finish pulling leaves from our hair and calling for help, we sit down.

We rest.

Then we pick up the cry again.

_2:02_

"How high do you think it is?" I ask. I'm happy the side of the hole had been slanted enough for us to roll instead of fall. A drop from that height, whatever it was, probably could have done heavy damage. Maybe fatal damage. I shake the thought away. "Think it's more than 15 meters?"

"Like the last twenty times you asked me, I don't know," she says patiently.

"So, how heavy a pokémon could you catch? You know, if it was theoretically falling from the sky."

Her brows stick together as she imagines what I'm thinking of. "No."

"You don't have any rope to throw up? Staraptor could take it."

"No." She offers a better idea: "Can staraptor take us up?"

"He'll probably have the strength by lunchtime." I shrug, and try to think of happy things. Like not dying.

She smiles a bit, "So, at least we have a guaranteed out."

I blush. "If he's not too big."

The smile vanishes. She sighs. "Don't you have anything with vines?"

"Yeah, but they only go nine meters. We'd have to jump for it, and that could hurt or drag them in." I think. "Could work. We could probably try that."

"Ash, I hate you." She blinks a few times. "Hey, we can see how far the beam goes on the pokeball. They're twenty meters, so there'll be no problem if the beam reaches. Whatever pokémon gets released on the surface could go get help."

"Oh," I say, sounding embarrassed, though not in an I'm-so-stupid-for-not-thinking-of-that way, but more in an I-made-a-mistake kind of way.

"What's 'oh'?" Misty scowls. "It's perfect."

"I guess," I say, rubbing the back of his neck. "Uh, unless we got the 10 meter cheap ones instead of twenty because you never really thought you'd need it. I mean, that could always happen, knowing me."

She rubs her temples. "You _are_ pokémon trainer?"

"Yes," I say meekly.

"An honest to goodness, fully fledged, competed in leagues kind of trainer?"

"Yes." I cringe, knowing what was coming next.

"Then why are you using the crap pokeballs they use to catch baby pokémon as pets?" she shouts, slamming her fists down in the dirt.

"Because they were cheaper and I blew all my money on snacks!" I shout back. "Why don't you try? Since you have such great pokeballs!"

She glares, I glare back, and she looks away to rustle through her bag and pull out an empty one. She stretches out her arm as far as she can and sends out the beam, but no such luck. We're still a few feet short. We both stare for a moment, then I beam and retort, "Guess it doesn't matter after all."

"Shut up," Ash," she snaps. "You're still stupid. So…just sit in the corner and wait to die."

_3:30_

"So, I heard you like mudkips."

"Drop dead, Ash."

"Are you upset because you think we're going to die here? Y'know, because the slope could cave and bury us at any moment?"

"No. I'm upset because I just found out there aren't any mudkips here."

"Really? It's the die-at-any-moment thing that's freaking me out."

"We're not going to die. Stop joking around."

"It's not a joke. Look how loose the dirt is." I rub my hand on the wall and large chunks come rolling off. "There really could be a mud slide at any second, burying us to death. I don't know how it's staying up without any plants to keep it up. It shouldn't be like this."

She frowns. "I didn't need to know that."

"Well, I'm not keeping that to myself. How brave do you think I am?"

"Braver than _that_."

_4:01_

She breaks the silence. "So, since we're going to die, is there anything you wanted to do or say?"

"Can you make me a Master, right now?"

"Only a Champion has the power to bestow that title." She smiles weakly. "You know that."

"I guess that's all, then. I don't think there's really anything to be done. I think we'll just have to die. Anything you want to tell me?"

"Too much." She sighs.

"What do you mean?"

"I've pulled a lot of pranks that you never knew was me."

"I'll tell mine if you'll tell yours," I say.

She thinks for a moment, then says, "Do you remember that time when your sandwich was too salty? Me."

"Remember that time all your shorts went missing? That was me."

_5:46_

Misty can hardly hold in her giggles. "The time you got poison ivy? Me."

I can hardly hold back his smirk. "I've put grass in your tea. A _lot_."

_6:28_

"So, I heard you like mudkips."

She looks me dead in the eye and sings, "_Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down-_"

"You can't Rickroll someone in person!" I argue.

"Just did."

"I hate you."

"Or do you just hate that you failed?"

"You know what the weirdest part of all this is?" I ask.

"What?"

"I'm not tired. I'm still wide awake. I couldn't go to sleep if I wanted to.'

"Me neither," she says, leaning on her hands. "I have absolutely no idea what time it is. How long until someone finds us?"

"Hopefully before the dirt slides down."

"Yeah, hopefully," she mutters. "Or before we go cannibal."

"I've never eat you, Misty. You're too scrawny."

"I'd eat you in a heartbeat."

"Yeah, that's what she said."

"Oh, Mew!" She shakes her head when I laugh. "Ash, you're disgusting."

"It's not disgusting. It's beautiful."

"Not when it involves your nasty body."

"Ouch, Misty, ouch."

_7:12_

"You don't really think I'm ugly, do you?"

Misty's eyes narrow. "We're not having this conversation."

"I'll tell you're pretty if you tell me-"

"And what makes you think I need your approval? On looks no less?" She snorts. "Like I care whether you think I'm-"

"You're kinda pretty," I blurt, ducking my head shyly. "I guess, in a weird way, you are."

"I'm still not telling you you're pretty."

I cross my arms. "Aw, come on! I said it all cute and innocent and everything!"

"Not everyone is going to think you're adorable all the time. One day you'll get into a real relationship, and when you get to know the other person and they'll realize for sure that you're only cute on the outside and that inside you're secretly evil. Seriously."

I'm smirking.

"Why are you smirking?"

"You just said I was cute. Somewhere in there you said I'm cute."

"I hate you."

"Oh, Mew, the dirt!" I shout, pointing at the sloping side behind her. Misty screams. I laugh. "Just kidding. So, how cute am I?"

_8:34_

"Ow!"

"Oops."

"What oops? You threw a shoe at me!"

"Maybe you should have ducked."

"You threw a shoe!"

_9:01_

"You know what, Ash?" Misty says, her voice breaking the tranquility of the quiet morning buzz and the sound of ever present death. "If we die here, I'm okay with that. I'd rather die here than live my life in a gym and never adventure again. Really, that one moment of walking through the forest was worth it."

"We're not going to die."

"I know. But if we did, that's okay with me."

"I'm glad."

"Good."

"Feel like apologizing for the shoe?"

"You gave me a heart attack, so, no. I don't really feel like apologizing. In fact, I feel like doing it again."

Very seriously, I swallow and whisper, "Oh, Arceus. Misty, don't look."

She gives a little shriek and buries her head in her hands.

I laugh. "_Got you twice!"_

_10:00_

"Hey guys!" Brock calls over Dawn's giggles. "Need a ride up?"

"Rope, please!" Misty shouts.

I add, "The wall's unstable!"

The rope is sent down, and we climb up, relieved to be on safe ground again.

"Are we heading to the next city?" Dawn asks.

"Wherever," I say.

Misty laughs.

**

* * *

**

Cute, weird, fun little thing. I enjoyed writing it. It was fun to play around with tenses and point of view and all that.

I hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
